Conventional wall switches control light fixtures or electrical outlets for lamps over wired systems. The conventional wall switches are connected to a building's electrical power via electrical wiring and operate to connect or disconnect the electrical power to the conventional luminaire by switching electrical power ON or OFF.
More recent lighting systems are controlled wirelessly. For example, a light fixture or a connected power supply may receive an ON/OFF command over-the-air in response to activation of a wall switch that communicates the ON/OFF command wirelessly directly or indirectly to the power supply device that applies electrical power to the light source in the fixture. A wireless control switch may include battery power for the wireless transmitter and any other electronics of wireless wall switch. A benefit of the wireless, battery powered wall switches is that the switch can be placed at nearly any location that allows wireless communication without connecting to the building's electrical power supply or other wiring.
However, when a battery powered wireless wall switch is replacing a conventional line powered/connected wall switch, it may sometimes be beneficial to utilize the building's existing electrical wiring at the conventional wall switch location as a power source instead of the battery used as the wireless wall switch's power source to insure the power supply does not degrade (e.g., diminish) over time. For example, stand-alone power sources degrade over time and may not provide the electrical power required for operation of the device control circuit and/or radio transceiver. Since wall switches exist as either battery powered or building electrical powered (i.e., line powered), a plan must be devised before installing a large number of devices at a commercial or retail facility in order to purchase a correct number of line powered wireless devices and a correct number of battery powered wireless devices.
Attempts have been made in other types of battery powered devices, such as power tools and the like to replace a battery power supply with a power supply having an electrical cord that allows an electronic device to be powered from an electrical outlet. In addition, charging circuits that charge the battery power source while allowing the battery power source to supply power to the device are also known. However, none of these attempts have addressed the need for reusing existing electrical wiring within a building's wall as an a replacement power source for a wireless electrical control device installed within the wall.
Accordingly, a system or device is needed to overcome these and other limitations in the art. The provided system or device would facilitate easy reuse of the existing electrical wiring in the building to power an otherwise wireless wall switch or the like and reduce the number of batteries that had to be purchased or maintained in inventory.